Fair White Rose and Second Choices
by DragonsintheMoonlight
Summary: Ianto thinks he is just Jack's second choice and the immortal really wants Gwen. Jack explains that he doesn't want Gwen, that the reason he can't lose her is because she reminds him of someone he was once very close to: Rose. First time trying to write slash; if you don't like, don't bother reading. I don't need negative comments. Set just after Meat. Please review! T for safety.


_**Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood or Doctor Who.**_

**AN: This is the first time I have ever attempted to write slash. I never thought I would actually branch my writing out to slash; I thought I would just stick to het, gen, and genderbending. Then I started watching Torchwood. I figured Janto would be a good time to try, since they are canon and the cutest pairing on the show. I don't know how much more slash I will be doing, but any Torchwood fic probably will be slash, unless I decide to do a little genderbending there too. I know that stories like this one have been done before, with Ianto thinking he is Jack's second choice, but I wanted to give a take on it where Jack isn't even slightly in love with Gwen and all he feels for her is a brotherly love because she reminds him of Rose. I chose the title specifically because Gwen means fair or white and since she reminds Jack of Rose... well, you get the picture. I hope you all enjoy.**

Ianto's POV

Since Gwen had stormed out, Ianto had been quiet. He was tired of feeling like he was Jack's second choice, that the captain was only with him because he couldn't have Gwen.

"Are you alright?" Jack asked him, the older man-though it was only so through chronology-asked. He looked at Ianto with concern, but somehow that only made Ianto angrier.

"I'm tired of being your second choice, sir," he said, trying to keep from yelling. How could Jack be so oblivious that he couldn't realize what was making Ianto so upset.

"My second choice?" Jack looked confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's obvious you'd rather be with Gwen than with me," Ianto said. "The only reason you're not is because she has Rhys. If she was available, you wouldn't have given me a second look."

"What? No, I don't feel that way about Gwen," Jack said.

"Then what was that back there? Letting Gwen break the rules so she wouldn't leave," he said. "You've never let anyone else break the rules before."

"No one has ever threatened to leave if they had to retcon their fiancé," Jack said. "Look, Ianto, I can't lose Gwen, but it's not because I'm in love with her. I'm in love with you, and that is why I can't lose you, but Gwen… she reminds me of someone."

Ianto stopped. Reminded him of someone? Gwen Cooper reminded Jack Harkness of someone that he _didn't _shag?

"And you didn't sleep with this person?" Ianto voiced his thoughts.

Jack looked so appalled, Ianto knew he couldn't be faking it. "I would never have done something like that! Not to her."

"Who was she?" Ianto asked, his anger fading.

"Her name was Rose," Jack said. "I saved her when she was dangling up in the air. She was such a sweet girl, beautiful, but I don't feel that way about her. I didn't feel that way about him either. They were the first people I allowed myself to trust in two years. And Rose… she saved my life."

Ianto put a hand on Jack's shoulder. "What happened?"

"They left me," he said. "On an abandoned space craft orbiting the Earth in the year 200,100."

"What? Why?" Ianto was shocked.

"It's complicated," Jack said. "See, Rose didn't just save my life, she brought me back to life. Rose is the one who made me immortal. I couldn't go with them after that, because I was a fixed point in time. There was too much of a risk creating a time paradox."

"So they left you?" Ianto demanded.

"It's alright," Jack said. "I can't see Rose anymore, but whenever I see him, my Doctor, we get along just fine. Besides, I had my vortex manipulator. That's how I ended up here. In a way, I should thank them for leaving me, because it brought me to you."

Jack moved closer to Ianto, blue eyes locking with blue eyes. "I should thank them for a lot of things."

Ianto's hands reached out and grasped a hold of Jack's shoulders. "Gwen really only reminds you of Rose? I'm really not just your second choice?"

"You'd never be my second choice," Jack whispered. "I wouldn't choose anyone over you. Not Gwen, not John, not the Doctor and Rose, not Estelle… you're different than all of them Ianto. I have died so many times, and each time I come back it feels like I am just awakening in a world where I am nothing more than a walking corpse, but with you here… I finally feel alive again, like I did before the Daleks 'exterminated' me."

Ianto didn't even want to ask what the Daleks were, and he had a pretty good idea that that's why Rose had to bring Jack back from the dead.

"I love you," Ianto whispered, and then he kissed Jack before the other man could reply, content in the knowledge that he would never be Jack's second choice.

* * *

**AN: Well, was it good? Bad? I can't be sure since this is the first time I have tried writing slash. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed. Please review.**


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